Utah Sheriffs to Obama: Take a Hike!

In an open letter posted on Facebook, the Utah Sheriffs’ Association rejected any unconstitutional infringement of the right to keep and bear arms.

Recognizing the horror of certain cases of carnage involving guns, including the Newtown shooting along with the 2007 Trolley Square shooting here in Utah, the association noted that it’s “easy to demonize firearms” while observing that such a reaction “is also foolish and prejudiced.”

Not beating around the bush, the concluding paragraph of the association’s letter fires a warning shot past the bow of the Obama administration:

We respect the Office of the President of the United States of America. But, make no mistake, as the duly-elected sheriffs of our respective counties, we will enforce the rights guaranteed to our citizens by the Constitution. No federal official will be permitted to descend upon our constituents and take from them what the Bill of Rights—in particular Amendment II—has given them. We, like you, swore a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and we are prepared to trade our lives for the preservation of its traditional interpretation.

Several states have made the news in past days regarding their potential legislative resistance to any gun control policy. Utah will be joining them, with Representative Brian Greene sponsoring similar legislation to help mount state-based resistance to this significant federal overreach.

Nullification, like any form of opposition against a perceived authority, is more successful when those resisting are not doing it alone. We support Greene’s impending bill and likewise encourage legislators around the country to uphold the Constitution by refusing to acknowledge the executive orders and legislative mandates that run contrary to its limited provisions and enumerated powers.

Sheriffs throughout Utah have led the way in this state in upholding the right to keep and bear arms. Now it’s the legislature’s turn to follow suit and add some teeth to the resistance.